When the Time is Right
by Darklight200
Summary: When Crash pulls one too many pranks on Crunch, Crunch decides to leave the bandicoot household. Meanwhile, Dingodile has had too much of Cortex and also decides to leave. What will happen in a strange turn of events and after a fateful encounter?
1. One Prank too Many

"Now?"

"No..."

"...Now?"

"No..."

"...N-" Crash was about to repeat himself for the fifteenth time when a hand pinched his mouth shut.

"If you say 'now' one more time, I swear I'l-"

"Look, there he is." Crash pointed, being careful that his hand wouldn't leave the green hiding place, or as Coco called it, a bush.

Coco giggled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a remote with a small, bendy antennae coming out the top.

"Wait for it... wait for it..." Crash said. Coco nudged her brother.

"Shh. I'm trying to time this perfectly. You did set the can of paint on the roof didn't you?"

"Er.. Yes." Crash had forgotten that he had left something else up on the roof as well. "Um.. Sis, there's something I need to tell you."

"Not now Crash. Annddd... now!" She pressed the button on the remote, just as their victim had reached the dirt X sketched in the path. Crash and Coco watched the contraption come to life. Springs, marbles and water-filled buckets were added to the contraption, "just for fun". When the last marble had hit its target, the can of paint fell on top of the brawny victim, along with a brick, knocking him out.

"Crash! You put a brick in there?" Coco came out from the bush's shade and went to see if her "adopted" brother was alright. Crash hesitantly started walking toward them.

"Ooh man... Did anyone get the license plate of that truck?" Crunch staggered to his now yellow feet.

"Sorry Crunch! Crash had convinced me to-" Coco stopped herself. Crunch got real angry when pranks were pulled on him, probably because he was so easy to get. Crash knew this fact and tried to use it to his advantage by using his mischievous mind to come up with a way to make Crunch look like a fool every day.

"Crash..." Crunch growled. He was getting sick and tired of all these pranks. He was still sore from yesterday's prank which consisted of a sandwich filled with less-than-desirable ingredients that landed Crunch in the bathroom for the rest of the evening.

"Aw, come on buddy. You know I think you're an awesome guy." Crash leaned on Crunch's shoulder and started to rub his knuckle on Crunch's head.

"Grr... Would you quit it! I'm tired of your pranks." Crunch shoved Crash away.

"You have to admit that those were some good pranks! Let's look back shall we?" When Crunch turned towards Crash, Coco was sitting on a red and white striped couch quietly, eating a bowl of popcorn, while Crash was fiddling with a projector behind the couch. "Sit down buddy." He did what he was told and Coco offered him some popcorn.

"What? You want me to get fat? You want me to get so fat that I'll get stuck in a pit that Crash tries to trap me in? Is this some type of followup? No thanks."

Coco shook her head. "Aren't you being a bit paranoid? It's not like one bowl of popcorn is gonna make you fat. Especially you, I mean look at you... You could work it off in 15 minutes. Now just try some."

Crunch was hesitant. "Fine..." He grabbed a kernel and it instantly crunched under his fingers. He tried again and again but the kernels kept crunching. "Oh forget it."

"Slideshow's ready! Lights!" They waited.

"Crash, you realize we're outside. It's not like you can just block out the sun for the slidesh-" Her mouth hung open once the sun disappeared behind a cloud.

"You were saying?" Coco was babbling like a fool, mainly speaking in one letter syllables. "Anyway. This was my first prank, remember Coco?" The picture showed Coco getting electrocuted by her laptop. The next slide showed a picture of Coco being pinched by a crab, which had been hiding under the sand where she sat.

"And then there's you, Crunch, my new victim." Crash smiled devilishly. The first slide showed Crunch's room upside down and a confused Crunch trying to climb into bed from the ground. Crunch grunted. "You'll remember this..." Crash said, referring to the picture of a sickly-looking Crunch eating a sandwich. "...which led to this." The next photo was of their empty bathroom. "And finally this." Crash flipped the slide.

"Ew! Crash! Get to the next slide!" Crunch had covered Coco's eyes with his hand.

"The itching powder in the underpants prank. Ah... a classic." Crash reminisced.

"That's it Crash. I can't take you anymore. All you do is play pranks and sleep. I don't want to put up with you anymore so I'm leaving!" Crunch got up and threw the projector at the tree, which was being used as the screen for the slideshow and it split in two. Crunch stomped up to the house and slammed the door hard enough to knock it off its hinges.

"Well. He didn't have to be such a spoiled sport." Crash took offense.

Coco took to Crunch's defense."You didn't have to be such a bad brother and friend to him."

Coco walked into the house, to find that Crunch's door was wide open.

"Look. There's a note." Crash pointed on the refrigerator. Sure enough, a yellow piece of paper was taped on the handle, a red marker had been used to make some words stand out.

"Let's see here..." Coco picked up the note and her eyes widened.

Dingodile's furnace was very dusty. Spiders had gotten their way into some of the furnace vents, getting incinerated by intense fire surges.

"Dingodile, you really need to clean this place up." said a short, yellow man.

"What's it to ya? You don't live down 'ere." Dingodile wasn't pleased with his master's comments. Who was he to judge a man, or a dingo mutant for that matter, how he should keep his living space.

"Oh, nothing... You could at least show your superior that you care enough to clean a bit hmm?"

"My superior eh?" Dingodile scanned the room, purposely not looking down. "I don't see 'im. Who're ya talkin' about?"

"Down here you idiot." Cortex crossed his arms. "You know that I'm vertically challenged!"

"Yeah, and you're short too." Dingodile snickered.

"That's it." Cortex whined like a frustrated girl. "You're out of order!"

"So is the vending machine upstairs. What's your point?"

"I'm... I'm... I'm putting you on probation!" Cortex smiled evilly. That would put his minion in his place.

Dingodile raised an eyebrow. "Sure mate, whatever(pronounced whatevah)." Dingodile stormed out of the room, making sure his gator tail whacked Cortex in his fat, abnormal head.

The waves rolled in smoothly on the beach; the sands a shady purple colour due to the intensifying sunset. Dingodile's footsteps left deep footprints in the sand, only to be washed away by a wave, leaving no trace of his path. Dingodile knew exactly what he was doing. He was making sure that his "superior" would not be able to find him so easily. He soon reached his bamboo canoe, hidden in tall weeds lining the forest/beach border. He pushed it to shore and hopped in, paddling with a bark paddle he had stolen from the castle. Waves circled and danced around each other as if, in their own strange way, doing an interpretive dance to tell him where to go.


	2. Sunny Days grow Cloudy with Evil

Crunch mumbled. The blood was rushing to his head and he needed to move. Crunch swayed from the ceiling, tied by thin chains and gagged by a blue cloth.

"So, you must be Crunch Bandicoot. I've seen Cortex's creations, and you have to be one of the dumbest looking creation yet(and believe me, I've seen Cortex's mutant mother). I digress; You have been brought to the Castle because we need a favour from you. We need you to bring us some of Crash Bandicoot's DNA." The man pulled the blue cloth out of Crunch's mouth.

"Why would I help you?" Saliva hit the man's face and he shuddered.

"We don't want your DNA, but thanks for the spit shower." The man wiped himself with the back of his hand. "I am N. Brio, potions expert, so don't call me you."

"Well you didn't tell me your name..."

Brio tried thinking of a comeback but nothing came to mind. "Anyway. You don't really have a choice at this moment. You're upside down, tied with chains and annoyed. All we need you to do is get some DNA; hair, saliva, even blood."

"Fine."

"Really? You'll help?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever..." The potions expert didn't pick up on Crunch's disinterest in the topic.

"Ok, I'm going to let you go when the time is right, but not right now." And with that, the rope started to sway again and the lights went out.

"Well it could be worse." Crunch thought to himself. "I never should have said I was leaving."

"Dear fools,

Crunch** no longer **wishes to fight for the good side and has **come to us **for support. He has decided to return to his roots and stay with us at **Cortex Castle**. If you would like to see him again, please come to **Cortex Coliseum **within a week to say your goodbyes. That is all.

See you soon Bandicoots,

Cortex Co.

"He... He really left us?" Coco felt heartbroken. She liked Crunch. He was the only one on the island that kept her sane while Aku Aku was away on "business trips".

"Whatever sis. Who needs that big lug anyway? All he was good for was carrying stuff around and doing chores."

"He made a mean lobster bisque too..."

"Right... so?"

"We need to go save him again Crash. It's the right thing to do. Even if he doesn't want to come back, we still need to get him out of Cortex Coliseum."

"Can't I have a na-" Coco pulled Crash's wrist and dragged him to the boats where they set out to Cortex Coliseum to find Crunch and save him.

CRASH! CRACK! THUD!

Dingodile's boat crashed onto an unknown island, surrounded by .

"Stupid winds. Now how am I supposed to get off here when my boat is smashed?" Dingodile cursed under his breath. He scoured the island, tail dragging in the auburn sand. He'd have to find food and water fast; the sun was setting quickly.

"Man, I wish I didn't have this life anymore... My old boss was an idiot and dictator, the weather and seas hate me and I'm Dingodile! Nobody should hate me! Ok, well maybe that penguin I tried eating, but that was one darn time."

And that's what Dingodile thought. Dingodile thought he was perfect and didn't deserve this "punishment". There was one thing that was better than staying on the island; one thought that stuck out in his mind: "At least it's better than almost getting married to N. Gin." He would never go back to the castle after the ceremony they had only two weeks before he had left, and the constant nagging of Cortex.

"Well, let's get started..."

Author Note: Sorry for the boring chapter, I had to get the storyline going a bit more or else this would be 100 chapters long. Reviews are always appreciated :).


End file.
